Sock Drawers, Stolen Bras, and Purple Laundry
by Belle Walker
Summary: In which Deeks discovers just how domestic Kensi...isn't. Spoilers for "Neighborhood Watch".
1. Chapter 1

He knew she wasn't the domestic type, but he'd had no idea just how domestically-challenged she actually was until he began sharing a house with her.

First, there was the laundry. He left her clothes where she'd left them herself — on the bathroom floor, the bedroom floor, strewn here and there throughout the livingroom…— and done his own laundry as he was accustomed to doing.

Not that he was opposed to handling her clothes — he'd done her laundry for a month once as punishment for forgetting to pick her up from the airport after her trip to Hawaii one time.

It was the principle of it, he told himself. They were equal partners in this 'marriage'.

But apparently, his 'wife' didn't appreciate her 'husband' ignoring her dirty clothes and only putting his own in the wash. Because when he took his load of whites out of the washer, they were no longer white — and there was a lot more clothes there than he remembered putting in.

Ugh. His favorite white shirt was now purple. Like Barney the Dinosaur.

A purple shirt he could handle…but he hated Barney.

He sighed. Nothing he could do about his poor shirt now. So he flung it in the dryer along with the rest of his former whites and the collection of Kensi's dark, wet clothes that were tangled all around them.

He'd get her back for that. As soon as that dryer stopped, he was going to steal one of her bras and hide it in his clean clothes. Sock drawer would be a great place for it.

And then there was the incident involving foil and a microwave. Or as Deeks fondly referred to it, "The Day Kensi Tried To Blow Up The House".

She had just pulled a plate of something out of the fridge and poked it into the microwave, and out of the corner of his eye Deeks happened to catch a brief flash of foil.

He'd never moved so fast in his life!

A split second before her finger hit that reheat button, his hand slapped at the door release bar and saved them both from what could easily have been a very big disaster.

After that, he hid the rest of the foil, lest that incident repeat itself.

And her housekeeping skills…or rather, _lack_ of skills…

You see, Deeks liked cleanliness. Kensi…not so much.

He actually caught her in the act of dragging a desk chair over the carpet to give the _illusion_ that she'd vacuumed.

Really — who does that?

He honestly didn't care if the floor was vacuumed or not. Nor did he care _who_ did the vacuuming, for that matter.

But to go to the actual trouble of _faking_ a vacuumed carpet — well, that was just too funny. He'd had to duck back around the corner so she wouldn't see him laughing at her.

He already knew she wasn't a big fan of cooking. But that was fine, because he liked making breakfast for her. And she liked that he was willing to.

To be honest, he was having too much fun playing one-half of a happily married suburban couple with Kensi Blye. Where else was he going to be able to see her in a cute (and somewhat revealing) dress, trying to pass off someone else's cookies as homemade?

She was out of her element here, and he loved being able to witness it.

He also loved pushing the boundaries with her…seeing just exactly what he could get away with under their guise of a loving couple.

That was perhaps the best part of being undercover here — he could flirt openly and tease her with public displays of affection, and she had no choice but to play along or risk blowing their cover.

At the end of the day…Deeks really didn't care that Kensi knew nothing about cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or any other household stuff.

It warmed him to know there were some things she _wasn't_ good at. Because in every other way, she was absolutely perfect.

And someday, he was going to tell her that.

But for now…

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was nearing their self-imposed bedtime. And since they were sharing a bed…

Well…let's just say he was going to have some more fun testing the boundaries…


	2. Chapter 2

She knew he had domestic tendencies — his apartment was pretty spotless compared to hers, and he could cook a pretty good meal — but she had no idea just how domestic he could be until she began sharing a house with him.

First, there was his _constant_ tidying up. One wouldn't know it just to look at him, but the man was a total neat-freak.

Seriously, his OCD about cleanliness amused her so much that she began leaving things strewn about on purpose just to watch him clean it all up.

Not that Kensi was necessarily a slob…she just liked to feel comfortable in her surroundings, and that normally entailed having her stuff spread casually about.

She attempted to clean…or at least, to make it _look_ like she cleaned. But then Deeks caught her red-handed rolling the desk chair over the carpet to simulate vacuum tracks, and that pretty much killed her desire to do any _real_ housekeeping.

She was also pretty sure he'd laughed at her over that, although he'd ducked around the corner too quickly for her to be positive.

Well, she'd get back at him for laughing at her. And for stealing one of her bras and hiding it in his sock drawer.

Turning his clothes purple was a complete accident! He'd put his own clothes in the wash and left hers untouched, and she just figured there was room for her stuff in there, too.

And there _was_ room — in hindsight, she should've just thrown the lighter colored stuff in with his whites, and left the dark things for their own wash load.

And Deeks did _not_ look like Barney the Dinosaur! He just looked like a hot surfer dude who was wearing purple, that's all.

Yes, Kensi could admit to herself that Deeks was hot. Just so long as he never found out that she thought so.

Her lack of cooking skills she made no apologies for. So what if she could hardly boil water? Could water shoot a gun? No, but she could!

Besides, she liked having a guy make breakfast for her in the morning. And he seemed to enjoy making breakfast for her, so it really was a win-win situation.

And if he hadn't made such a good dinner the night before, she wouldn't have tried to reheat the leftovers in the microwave with the foil still on it!

That was embarrassing, her almost nuking foil. And he didn't have to rub salt in her wound by hiding the rest of the foil to keep it from happening again.

But it was nice to have somebody around who cared about her. Somebody to say "goodnight" to at the end of the day. (And having someone to say "good morning" to was pretty nice, too.)

Yeah, Kensi was out of her element here…and Deeks was clearly within his.

In fact, she'd given him a little tease about it once…that he'd "make a great wife someday" — and she bit back a grin when he'd replied good-naturedly with, "Well, at least there's still hope for one of us."

But at the end of the day, she really didn't care that he liked to cook and clean, and did laundry better than she did.

Because when it really came down to it…those were about the _only_ aspects of Marty Deeks that weren't totally, one-hundred percent masculine. He was pretty nearly perfect in every other way.

And that was one secret she was keeping to herself. Because she honestly loved the flirtatious attention that he gave her. And although she'd rebuffed it every time at the beginning of their partnership…lately, more often than not, she'd return fire with a small flirt of her own.

That was possibly her favorite part of being undercover here — she wasn't expected to keep him at a professional arm's-length.

If he wanted to test the boundaries — and he usually did — she was allowed to play along to her heart's content. She could even push the boundaries herself if she felt like it!

Innuendo? Alright! Public displays of affection? Yes, please!

She looked up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly time for their agreed-upon bedtime. And since they were sharing a bed…

Well…let's just say she was going to have some fun playing along with her partner's testing of the boundaries…


End file.
